


wonderland isn't always so wonderful

by hurricanekid



Category: Wonderland (Australian TV Series)
Genre: Anger, Arguments, Divorce, F/M, Getting Together, Grief, Hurt/Comfort, Relationship Study, brief mention of sex, but it's not super explicit, the characters in this show act like children sometimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23328508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hurricanekid/pseuds/hurricanekid
Summary: an introspective on the four sets of relationships that flourished and perished in the wonderland apartment complex.
Relationships: Colette Riger/Rob Duffy, Dani Varvaris/Steve Beaumont, Grace Barnes/Carlos Dos Santos, Miranda Beaumont/Tom Wilcox





	wonderland isn't always so wonderful

Every time Colette holds Ashton, she’s reminded of her losses. How she and Rob had already once, come so close to divorce. How he had a baby with someone else. How she lost a second baby. How she felt resigned to be second in Rob’s life because of Jade and Ashton. 

She wanted to be good. Colette wanted to prove to him, to Jade, Ashton, but mostly herself, that she could be selfless. 

But then she has a second miscarriage. And just when it seemed that Rob was putting her first, she finds out that it was only because Jade and Ashton were away, and then he’s gone again to pick them up at the airport. 

And then it all comes crumbling down when he returns and Colette tells him she wants a divorce. 

He looks stunned, holding Ashton in his arms – his baby, the one Colette would forever look at reminded that Ashton was not his and hers, that he would love this baby more than her, that he would never love their child like this because Ashton had captured his heart – and Colette feels devastated. But free. 

Rob stands there with his mouth gaping like a fish, and finally, all the thoughts that Colette kept inside bubble to the surface. 

“I am always going to be second to Ashton, to Jade. I’ve tried so hard to make this work, but I see you falling more in love with him every day. With the idea of making a family with Jade work, because it clearly won't work with me anymore,” she tells him. “And it’s a constant reminder of what I will never have, what I never got to have with you first. He’s a reminder that I will never get to have you like that, because you and Jade took that away from me.”

Rob deflates from her words. 

“I’m going to move out tomorrow,” she tells him, “I’ll be sending divorce papers over in the next week for you to sign.”

He’s at the edge of tears, eyes red and glassy, still trying to figure out what to say to her, and though Colette didn’t expect it, her heart breaks more. 

Rob will never know what to say to her anymore. 

“Goodbye, Rob.” Colette turns and leaves. 

* * *

Dani and Steve can’t seem to stop arguing. 

She’s trying to make it better when Steve bursts at her, accusing her of lying to him for their whole marriage. 

Her knees buckle and she braces herself against the countertop, starting to cry. And then she gets angry. 

“I never told you because it didn’t matter. I slept with Tom twice before we got together. And when we started going out together, the way you touched me, I completely forgot about Tom.” Dani’s chest feels tight and she presses a hand against her heart to calm herself, to stop from going overboard – yet: “Maybe it was something I should’ve told you. But how you’ve been handling this, it makes me think I was right to have forgotten about it. You can’t handle the idea that your wife could’ve had someone besides you inside her. You don’t trust me enough.”

Steve looks at her with fire in his eyes and opens his mouth, but Dani cuts him off. She’s not done taking. 

“But let’s not forget you lied to me. You didn’t tell  me about the Sasha thing because all you could think about were my indiscretions, which weren’t even that because we weren’t together,” then Dani breaks, tears streaming faster down her face. “You kept avoiding me instead of doing the adult thing and talking to me. I’m your goddamn wife and you kept running away with your tail between your legs.”

“I will never forgive you for how you’ve made me feel, for how you’ve handled this situation.”

She walks out.

* * *

Tom is blissfully asleep, Miranda realizes, while her mind runs. 

He’d finally come to his senses and left Sasha, the good-for-nothing liar and manipulator. Then he showed up at their apartment and she finally told Tom that she loved him. 

Then they had sex, and it was everything Miranda hoped for, but there was still a faraway look in Tom’s eyes as he pressed into her. 

Maybe he couldn’t believe it was finally happening, or he was thinking of Sasha. But Miranda has him, and her selfishness won’t let him go now. 

Tom turns over and slings an arm across her naked chest, head tucked into her shoulder, making Miranda’s breathing hitch and sending a shiver through her. Miranda yearned for him for months and now she finally has him. 

She runs a hand down his arm, and he stirs. 

“Hey,” he says, cracking his eyes open. “I love you.”

Suddenly, it’s too much, too soon. He married Sasha yesterday, after all, then fell into her open legs hours after it all fell apart. 

“Is this actually going to work out?” She asks him, tense.

“I want it to,” Tom tells her, tracing a finger around her face. Miranda relaxes slightly. “All I can think about is how much I want you. How long I’ve wanted you, and how stupid I was to not do or say anything.”

He cranes his neck to kiss her, and Miranda sighs into his touch.

* * *

Grace wishes she could smack herself. 

Of course, as soon as she and Carlos sorted out their feelings for each other, he was being forced to return to Brazil to testify. 

“I will return to you,” Carlos promises her that night, as they lay tangled in bed together. 

“I need you,” she admits, and it scares her that she means it, that she trusts Carlos enough with this part of her that Grace never felt comfortable enough giving anyone else. 

“I need you too,” he tells her, and cradles her face in his hands before kissing her. Carlos shifts to have Grace laying on top of him, her head on his chest, legs nestled against each other. 

“I want to tell you something,” Grace starts. Carlos nods, wrapping his arms around her back. “I know I haven’t always been the easiest to be with, but I want to promise you that I will try. I want to be the person you can always turn to, to trust to love you and tell you that everything will be okay. I guess that I just want you to know that I will do everything in my power to prove to you that I’m worth it.”

Carlos nods and kisses her. 

“You are worth it. When I come back from Brazil, we’ll have so much time to work on everything, too,” he says. Grace smiles. 

“You act like I won’t be able to call you.”

“That is true, but it’s much easier to work on our relationship, especially if we argue, if I’m there to pick you up and kiss you senseless.” Carlos grins and Grace misses him already. 

Perhaps the promises of Wonderland are true. 

**Author's Note:**

> i watched this show with my mom and i missed half of the episodes, but not the fact that these characters in their 30s act like children more than half the time. so i wrote something about it even though the show was cancelled five years ago, and nobody will understand what's going on because there's no plot summaries anywhere.
> 
> [follow me on tumblr](http://hurricanekid.tumblr.com)


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